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NMC standing panel no to 30% cut in Budget for development works

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) standing committee in its meeting on Monday forced municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane to roll back his decision to cut budget for development works by 30%, once again bringing to fore differences between the civic chief and the standing committee.&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">Wardhane had issued a circular directing heads of all the departments and assistant commissioners of all 10 zones to cut expenditure on development works. The civic chief justified his decision citing revenue deficit following implementation of the local body tax (LBT) and expenses on non-emergency works. However, standing committee headed by Avinash Thakre saw this as a big setback for developmental works.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">After the meeting, Thakre told that Wardhane took the decision under political pressure, probably from the Congress led state government. &quot;NMC&#39;s revenue as on December 12 was recorded at INR 541 crore while expense stood at INR 563 crore. This difference is not even 30%. Revenue is likely to increase from the next month due to recovery of property tax. This proves that the civic chief is intentionally reducing the budget,&quot; he said.&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">Thakre added that Wardhane has assured to roll back the decision as soon as chief accounts and finance officer, Madan Ghadge, takes charge. &quot;Wardhane and Ghadge were not present in the meeting. Additional municipal commissioner Hemant Kumar Pawar and other officials failed to justify the civic chief&#39;s order. Wardhane assured to roll back the decision when Pawar called him up during the meeting,&quot; he said.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">At the meeting, the standing committee approved 54 proposals related to road repairs. Around 36 proposals were for issuing work order to successful bidders while 18 were for seeking administrative approval to kick-off the tendering process. Work on 36 roads is likely to start in the next month while remaining roads will be taken up by March.&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">The standing committee also approved proposal to invite expression of interest to operate and maintain the newly-constructed indoor sports complex at Vivekananda Nagar. However, no decision was taken on selecting one of the four methods proposed to decide the nature of operation and maintenance.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">&quot;Interested agencies will be asked to select one model. NMC will go ahead with the best one. A private agency will be roped in to maintain and operate the stadium,&quot; Thakre said.&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">Lashing out at the officials for delay in completing works, the standing committee approved the proposal seeking extension to project management consultant DRA Consultancy in Pench IV water supply project. The extension has been granted up to March 2014. At the same time the standing committee also increased the consultancy charges by around INR 4 crore, taking the amount to INR 13.85 crore. Thakre said public money is being wasted due to delay on part of the administration. &quot;Decisions should be taken soon and projects should be completed on time,&quot; he said.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The standing committee approved proposal to issue work order of INR 45 lakh per year for installing a software based on smart phone mobile technology for grievance redressal. The civic body would receive visual complaints through the system and forward it to the respective departments for redressal.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Source-On Request</span></span></span></p>